Interview: Sponge from Electric River

Courtesy of the miracle of modern technology – i.e. emails that go missing – this interview is delayed and should have gone up a month ago. Apologies to the guys for this. Blame Bill Gates! The questions were set to the band during their tour with Stiff Little Fingers which I sadly couldn’t attend due to family commitments.

Last time we spoke, you were opening for Lit at the Cathouse. This time around, it’s another support slot but for Stiff Little Fingers and at a significantly bigger venue! How did the Barrowlands treat you?

Barrowlands was great, loads of character! Being St Patrick’s night everyone was telling us how mental the show would be & Glasgow didn’t disappoint!

Is it the largest venue you’ve played, or up there with them?

The whole SLF tour was a big step up for us regarding venue size. It was nice to cut our teeth as a new slimmed down 3-piece on such big stages. It really worked and the crowds really got behind ER.

How’s the travelling been? You’ve not had the best of luck with exploding vans in the past!

Travelling is one of the best things about touring. It’s half the reason we are in a band. Thankfully ‘van diesel’ got us through the first half of the tour (pissing out power steering fluid down much of the south west). Thankfully for the rest of the tour we were in a more comfortable van but it didn’t go without the usual dramas. Running out of diesel 9 miles out of Glasgow was pretty eventful…motorway walks past lakes & wild deer, scaling a bridge to make it to the other side etc…

Have you been revealing any new material on this tour?

Yes, we slipped a couple of new tracks in “Low Light & 32” taken from the new Besides the Faith & Patience E.P. It was nice to freshen up the set ever so slightly.

Any plans for a new release, or are you working on anything at the moment?

We started working on some new ideas pretty much as soon as The Faith & Patience was finished. But we don’t like rushing ourselves just for the sake of putting out a new tune. We’ve got a batch of around 30 ideas so far & will aim for another 30 before we start really getting into it.

Given the impressive (and deserved) reception for The Faith & Patience, is there any pressure on you personally to produce something better?

I think there’s always pressure to move forward & evolve in order to keep things interesting within ourselves and the band. We’re not really feeling any pressure following the last release as we didn’t give a fuck what people thought when we came to record last time round. We didn’t even know whether people would hear it! We just wanted to make the best possible album we could for ourselves to be happy. Obviously we’re now chuffed so many people have praised the record & we’re just really excited to move onto the next project.

Over the last few months you’ve shrunk from four to three members. Who left and why?

That would be our bro Chris. Basically he has a young family to look after and raise now & because being in ER is a full time commitment, the two couldn’t really coincide any longer. We all mutually felt it was the best way forward for the band & for him.

And why not replace him? Why “downsize” to three members?

ER is an established band made up of the very best of friends that go way back. As most bands will tell you it’s like a marriage so for someone to walk in now after such a history would be unrealistic. Chris’s are big shoes to fill & after all we are still a band coming up through the ranks. Who knows maybe later down the line we will add additional musicians but for now the trio makes total sense & we’re really excited about exploring this sound.

What are your plans over the summer? Any festival appearances on the cards?

We have a ton of festivals this year which we are really proud to be on, from ‘Rebellion’ to ‘Willowman’, there are some really nice small festivals in there too. We are also really excited to have a mainstage slot at ‘2000 Trees’ which features some of the best bands across the UK.. We are also talking to a German record label about releasing The Faith & Patience across Europe and touring the mainland as well as obviously continuing to work on our follow up record. There’s a lot in the pipeline.